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I’ve been very happy about the fact that this year there are several Academy Award-nominated films featuring women who, when faced with adversity, take a never-say-die attitude and give their all.

Not all of them are spies, or assassins. In fact, only one can be considered a government-sanction espionage operative, with a license to kill (okay, to waterboard). But that’s the beauty of the kiss-ass heroine: she doesn’t have to be trained to go the extra mile, Guts are part of her DNA.

If you haven’t seen these three movies, I strongly recommend them. You’ll learn something new; not just about the history in which these incidents took place, but about human nature during the worst of times.

Here’ are three movie heroines who have earned my my respect, and why:

In Lincoln, the first lady of our great country, circa 1864, must be a pillar of strength for her husband, the president, despite the death of a one of her three sons, her trepidation over the enlistment into the army of another, and the political machinations taking place to ensure the passing of the 13th Amendment.

Best Moment: Really, there are two. In one, Sally Field’s Mary Lincoln makes it clear to her husband that should he push for the 13th Admendment, he better do so prior to the official end of the Civil War, since the odds of it passing with Southerners back in Congress will never happen. When he tells her he has his Secretary of State, William Seward, is doing all he can,Mother Tiger Mary retorts, “Seward can’t do it; you must. Because if you fail to acquire the necessary votes, woe unto you, sir. You will answer to me.”

In another, while welcoming him to a reception, Mary takes on Tommy Lee Jones’ Thaddeus Stevens (R.PA) to task for a snarky remark about the elegance of the White House by reminding him that the White House had mold hanging from the ceiling when she moved in.

Best Quote:(Mary to Abe): “You think I’m ignorant of what you’re up to because you haven’t discussed this scheme with me as you ought to have done? When have I ever been so easily bamboozled? I believe you when you insist that amending the Constitution and abolishing slavery will end this war. And since you’re sending my son into the war, woe to you if you fail to pass the amendment.”

Recruited right out of high school into the CIA, Maya (no last name) is sent to Pakistan and put on the team assigned to finding Osama bin Laden. It becomes the driving force of her life. And yes, she succeeds.

Best Moments:The first takes place at CIA Headquarters, when attending her first formal meeting with CIA Director Leon Panetta, when he’s being briefed on the theory that Osama bin Laden is hiding in a suburban neighborhood in Abbottabad, Pakistan. He dismisses her as “the girl” in the room (she is the only female), but when he asks, who was the m*th*rf*ck*r who came up with the theory, she pipes up: “I’m the m*th*rf*ck*r who found this place, sir!”

In another scene, while everyone else hedges their bets as 40-60 percent that Osama bin Laden is indeed inside the compound, Maya is emphatic that “It’s 100 percent. I know certainty freaks you guys out, but it’s 100.”

Best Quote (Maya, to a group of smart-ass Navy Seal Team 6 members): ” Quite frankly, I didn’t even want to use you guys, with your dip and velcro and all your gear bullshit. I wanted to drop a bomb. But people didn’t believe in this lead enough to drop a bomb. So they’re using you guys as canaries. And, in theory, if bin Laden isn’t there, you can sneak away and no one will be the wiser. But bin Laden is there. And you’re going to kill him for me.”

A series of tragedies–including a dying father, a devastating fire, and a broken levee that wipes out “the Bathtub”, the bayou where she lives–leaves a six-year-old homeless, and in search of the mother she never knew.

Best Moment: After listening to her father’s last breath leave his body, Hushpuppy sets his funeral pyre adrift in the Mississippi Delta, as he requested.

Best Quote: “When it all goes quiet behind my eyes, I see everything that made me lying around in invisible pieces. When I look too hard, it goes away. And when it all goes quiet, I see they are right here. I see that I’m a little piece in a big, big universe. And that makes things right. When I die, the scientists of the future, they’re gonna find it all. They gonna know, once there was a Hushpuppy, and she live with her daddy in the Bathtub.”

Photo courtesy of Cinereach Pictures

Would you agree with this line-up?Is there another movie with a kick-ass heroine
I may have missed?Put forth your nomination!

I’ve been very happy about the fact that this year there are several Academy Award-nominated films featuring women who, when faced with adversity, take a never-say-die attitude and give their all.

Not all of them are spies, or assassins. In fact, only one can be considered a government-sanction espionage operative, with a license to kill (okay, to waterboard). But that’s the beauty of the kiss-ass heroine: she doesn’t have to be trained to go the extra mile, Guts are part of her DNA.

If you haven’t seen these three movies, I strongly recommend them. You’ll learn something new; not just about the history in which these incidents took place, but about human nature during the worst of times.

Here’ are three movie heroines who have earned my my respect, and why:

In Lincoln, the first lady of our great country, circa 1864, must be a pillar of strength for her husband, the president, despite the death of a one of her three sons, her trepidation over the enlistment into the army of another, and the political machinations taking place to ensure the passing of the 13th Amendment.

Best Moment: Really, there are two. In one, Sally Field’s Mary Lincoln makes it clear to her husband that should he push for the 13th Admendment, he better do so prior to the official end of the Civil War, since the odds of it passing with Southerners back in Congress will never happen. When he tells her he has his Secretary of State, William Seward, is doing all he can,Mother Tiger Mary retorts, “Seward can’t do it; you must. Because if you fail to acquire the necessary votes, woe unto you, sir. You will answer to me.”

In another, while welcoming him to a reception, Mary takes on Tommy Lee Jones’ Thaddeus Stevens (R.PA) to task for a snarky remark about the elegance of the White House by reminding him that the White House had mold hanging from the ceiling when she moved in.

Best Quote:(Mary to Abe): “You think I’m ignorant of what you’re up to because you haven’t discussed this scheme with me as you ought to have done? When have I ever been so easily bamboozled? I believe you when you insist that amending the Constitution and abolishing slavery will end this war. And since you’re sending my son into the war, woe to you if you fail to pass the amendment.”

Recruited right out of high school into the CIA, Maya (no last name) is sent to Pakistan and put on the team assigned to finding Osama bin Laden. It becomes the driving force of her life. And yes, she succeeds.

Best Moments:The first takes place at CIA Headquarters, when attending her first formal meeting with CIA Director Leon Panetta, when he’s being briefed on the theory that Osama bin Laden is hiding in a suburban neighborhood in Abbottabad, Pakistan. He dismisses her as “the girl” in the room (she is the only female), but when he asks, who was the m*th*rf*ck*r who came up with the theory, she pipes up: “I’m the m*th*rf*ck*r who found this place, sir!”

In another scene, while everyone else hedges their bets as 40-60 percent that Osama bin Laden is indeed inside the compound, Maya is emphatic that “It’s 100 percent. I know certainty freaks you guys out, but it’s 100.”

Best Quote (Maya, to a group of smart-ass Navy Seal Team 6 members): ” Quite frankly, I didn’t even want to use you guys, with your dip and velcro and all your gear bullshit. I wanted to drop a bomb. But people didn’t believe in this lead enough to drop a bomb. So they’re using you guys as canaries. And, in theory, if bin Laden isn’t there, you can sneak away and no one will be the wiser. But bin Laden is there. And you’re going to kill him for me.”

A series of tragedies–including a dying father, a devastating fire, and a broken levee that wipes out “the Bathtub”, the bayou where she lives–leaves a six-year-old homeless, and in search of the mother she never knew.

Best Moment: After listening to her father’s last breath leave his body, Hushpuppy sets his funeral pyre adrift in the Mississippi Delta, as he requested.

Best Quote: “When it all goes quiet behind my eyes, I see everything that made me lying around in invisible pieces. When I look too hard, it goes away. And when it all goes quiet, I see they are right here. I see that I’m a little piece in a big, big universe. And that makes things right. When I die, the scientists of the future, they’re gonna find it all. They gonna know, once there was a Hushpuppy, and she live with her daddy in the Bathtub.”

Photo courtesy of Cinereach Pictures

Would you agree with this line-up?Is there another movie with a kick-ass heroine
I may have missed?Put forth your nomination!

Monday marked the beginning of Chinese New Year, a 15-day celebration that ushers in the next lunar year. According to the Chinese zodiac, every year is symbolized by one of 12 animals and 2012 is the year of the dragon. The dragon is legendary in Chinese folklore, and those born during dragon years are supposedly powerful, innovative, brave, and passionate. The year of the dragon is said to be the luckiest.

After going to the movies last weekend, I’m convinced it will be the year of the dragon at this year’s Oscars as well. On Wednesday, newbie actress Rooney Mara was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. To say she did a good job in the role of the Lisbeth Salander would be a massive understatement. The character of Lisbeth shows a spectrum of emotions: she’s tough and vulnerable, angry and kind, terrified and brave. And it all comes through on the screen. Mara’s performance was riveting in every moment–and for a two-hour-forty-minute movie that is saying a lot. Set in icy Sweden, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo received a total of five Oscar nominations, including Best Cinematography.

You have to go see it.

You really, really have to go see it, especially if you liked the book. Fair warning, though, there are some very graphic scenes.

Personally, I loved the book, which was written by Stieg Larsson. The Swedish author died before the book was published and never got to see his Millennium Trilogy sell 65 million copies and sit atop the bestseller lists for years. What’s the appeal with these novels? I thought Dragon Tattoo was fresh, suspenseful, edgy, and hard to predict.

Typically when I fall in love with a book, I end up disappointed by the movie, but that wasn’t the case this time. If anything, the movie–which had me gasping, cheering, and (at some points) covering my eyes–was even more impressive than the novel.

To win the Oscar, 26-year-old Rooney Mara will have to beat out Meryl Streep, who has been nominated for 17 Academy Awards. I think she can do it. Have you seen the movie? What do you think?

As a die-hard book lover, I want to take a moment to cheer for the fact that six of this year’s nine Oscar nominees for Best Picture came from books: The Descendants, Hugo,The Help, Moneyball, War Horse and Extremely Loud & IncrediblyClose. Isn’t that cool? I haven’t seen all these films, but I’m going to try to check all of them off my list by the awards show on February 26.

Do you have any favorite books that were made into movies? Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Anyone who leaves a comment is eligible to win a $10 Starbucks card and a signed copy of my latest book, SNAPPED.

Time to place your bets. What are your Oscar predictions this year? If you’re like me, you haven’t managed to make it to every single one of the nominated movies. But even if you’ve only seen a handful, it’s still fun to watch the awards, see everyone in their finery, and get caught up in the drama of it all.

As a former Chicagoan, my favorite film critic is Roger Ebert, so I hopped onto his Web site to check out the full list of nominations. And athough I remember this change being made, I was startled to see so MANY nominees for best picture. In case you’ve been living under a rock (or have other things to do besides follow Hollywood news and fawn over celebrities) here are the nominees: Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The King’s Speech, 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit, and Winter’s Bone.

Now, I think I may have seen 10 movies this year, but since a bunch of them were animated, my list does not exactly line up with this one. Maybe that says something about my taste in movies. But not having seen a film will not stop me from predicting its fate! I am going to go with The King’s Speech for best picture, mainly because I hear the other frontrunner is Black Swan and I know far too many people who saw that film and had a very lukewarm reaction.

As for Best Actor, I’m also going with Colin Firth (The King’s Speech) although I was very impressed with Jesse Eisenberg in the Facebook movie. For Best Actress, there are some big names nominated (Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman, Jennifer Lawrence, Annette Bening, and Michelle Williams) and in this particular category I am guessing Natalie Portman. What do you think?

For Best Supporting Actor, I would love to see Christian Bale win for his role as the druggie brother in The Fighter, but I also really enjoyed Jeremy Renner as the bad boy sidekick in the movie, The Town.

Of all the categories, I think Best Supporting Actress will be most interesting this year. I am hoping for 15-year-old Hailee Steinfeld who blew me away in True Grit. Also impressive was Amy Adams as Mark Wahlberg’s tough girlfriend in The Fighter. A friend of mine swears the award will go to Helena Bonham Carter from The King’s Speech (are you seeing a trend here? That movie is getting lots of buzz, and I’m glad because I’m a fan of old Colin.)

One part of the show I always look forward to (no, not the lame introductions) is the musical performances. I will never forget Alison Krauss performing two songs from the Cold Mountain soundtrack. This year’s performers include Randy Newman and Gwenyth Paltrow. I’m not sure how exciting that will be, but we’ll see. Let’s at least hope they can remember the words to their songs.

One thing I know will be fun is hearing all the snarky comments about everyone’s clothes as they grace the red carpet. Who do you think will have the best dress? Or even more fun, the worst?

Make an Oscar prediction and be eligible to win a signed copy of my latest release, UNFORGIVABLE! And FYI, the awards will be broadcast at 8 p.m. ET and 5 p.m PT Sunday on ABC, with Anne Hathoway and James Franco hosting.

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Bio:

Allison Brennan

Allison Brennan is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of nearly three dozen romantic thrillers and mysteries, including the Lucy Kincaid series and the Max Revere series. She lives in Northern California with her husband, five children, and assorted pets.